Florida Governor Ron DeSantis (R) has signed a bill into law that allows residents to carry concealed firearms in the state without a permit.
This bill makes Florida the 26th state to allow permitless concealed carry, according to the U.S. Concealed Carry Association.
The bill was approved overwhelmingly by Florida’s state legislature last week.
With the new law in place, gun owners in Florida only need to hold a valid ID to carry a concealed weapon, and they will face a $25 fine for failing to do so.
However, people who are otherwise prohibited from carrying a gun under state and federal law would still be barred from carrying firearms under the new legislation. This would include those with felony records and certain misdemeanors.
Governor DeSantis signed the bill into law on Monday morning in the state Capitol, in front of a group of about 20 people.
While the governor called it a “great day for Floridians’ Second Amendment rights,” some Second Amendment advocates have criticized the bill for not going far enough.
The Gun Owners of America, a gun rights organization, supports permitless concealed carry, but says that the bill does not go far enough in allowing people to openly carry guns in public.
Luis Valdes, the Florida director of the group, said, “Permitless concealed carry is a good thing. But it’s not the constitutional carry that we were promised.”
DeSantis has said he supports open carry, but Florida’s prohibition against open carry in nearly all circumstances will continue, as legislative leaders remained firm on this issue.
The new law will take effect on July 1, 2023, allowing Florida to join other states, including Alabama, Alaska, Arizona, Arkansas, Georgia, Idaho, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Maine, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, New Hampshire, Ohio, Oklahoma, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, Utah, Vermont, West Virginia, Wyoming, and North Dakota (for residents only), in allowing permitless concealed carry.
